With Mnangagwa gone, it’s back to square one for big business!

Within the quiet corridors of Zimbabwean business, Mnangagwa was seen as the more palatable side of ZANU-PF. Business leaders seemed to believe, as did the West and others, that he would be the man to lead Zimbabwe to stability.

It is something that seemed to needle the Mugabes. On Sunday, in a speech to apostolic churches, Grace referred to that. Command Agriculture, the farm subsidy programme that came to define Mnangagwa and won him some grassroots support, was her idea, not Mnangagwa’s, Grace said.

“They gave that programme to him, because they say he is business minded, he knows business. I don’t know what business he runs. I understand business better than anyone, not him,” she declared.

Mnangagwa’s reform plans mostly came to naught, mostly the result of Mugabe’s refusal to sacrifice patronage. The Lima plan ultimately fizzled out, hurt by opposition from inside Government to key demands such as spending cuts.

The remaining Mugabe faction, with Grace Mugabe as its flag bearer, has neither the will, nor the skill, to continue any engagement with international capital. It is unlikely that China, or the West, will also have the same will to engage them either.

Mnangagwa was never going to survive, especially once Grace Mugabe showed ambition. No loyalty would ever have been enough. But in his quest to cast himself as a reformer, Mnangagwa only sped up an exit that was certain the moment he deputised a man who does not share power.

With Mnangagwa gone, for big business, the West, and China, it is back to square one in their engagement with Zimbabwe.- The Source

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The Insider is a political and business bulletin about Zimbabwe, edited by Charles Rukuni. Founded in 1990, it was a printed 12-page subscription only newsletter until 2003 when Zimbabwe's hyper-inflation made it impossible to continue printing.